Obama able to get commitments to fight militants
Pakistani soldiers are seen on their way to Pakistan's troubled valley of Swat where government security forces are fighting with Taliban militants, in Mardan near Peshawar, Pakistan on Wednesday.
TAKHT BAI, Pakistan – Pakistan launched air and ground attacks against up to 7,000 Taliban entrenched militants Wednesday, killing dozens holed up at emerald mines and on forested hillsides following urgent U.S. demands to step up the fight against the insurgents.
President Obama declared he got the commitments he wanted Wednesday from the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to more aggressively fight Taliban and al-Qaida militants who are gaining power and sowing violence in their countries.
“I’m pleased that these two men, elected leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, fully appreciate the seriousness of the threats that we face and have reaffirmed their commitment to confronting it,” Obama said at the White House.
With militants fighting back and weary refugees lining up at camps, the operation will be a test of whether the army has the will, capability and political support to defeat an enemy that had three months under a now-shattered peace deal to rest and regroup.
“It is an all-out war there. Rockets are landing everywhere,” said Laiq Zada, 33, who fled the Swat Valley and is living in a government-run tent camp out of the danger zone.
Eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the area remains a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters blamed for spiraling violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Uprooting the insurgents from the valley will mean unpopular civilian casualties. But there have been signs recently of a shift in the national mood against the Taliban after it got most of the blame for the collapsed peace process in Swat.
Wednesday’s clashes followed the collapse of a three-month-old truce in Swat that saw the government impose Islamic law.
It was widely criticized in the West as a surrender to the militants.
Sustained fighting broke out Tuesday, triggering a mass exodus from Mingora, the main town in the valley. Up to 40,000 people have fled the region, according to officials, who have warned that 500,000 could leave.
The military said about 35 militants positioned near emerald mines and in hillside bases above the town were killed – the most reported casualties there since fighting resumed. It reported another 50 enemy fighters killed in Buner in artillery strikes and clashes.
President Barack Obama speaks to reporters after his meeting with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (left) and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in the White House.